Railway Accident.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 July 1915, Page 4

Railway Accident.

ON THE MAIN TRUNK LINE. ENGINE FALLS THROUGH BRIDGE. No UVKH LOST. By Telegraph.—-Press Asnociation. Wellington, Vesterd.iy. Advices received by the Uaihvay Department show that considerable trouble is experienced, as a result of slips on the Main Trunk Railway between Taihape and Te Kuiti. The position at present is: Wednesday nighfs Wellington to Auckland, train pud Thursday's !>. 10 train to Auckland are held up at Taiunarunui, and Auckland'.-! midday and night trains and Thursday's are held up at Te Kuiti. To-night's !).!(). train' tu Auckland ins been cancelled, us also is Auckland's midday train to Wellington.

Taumiiruiuii advises that the first express leaving Taiunarunui for Auckland since yesterday morning left at 2.2(1 p.m. to-duy. When one mile out the engine fell through, u bridge, and it is feared that there are some casualties. Doctors and stretchers Have left for the scene of the accident. No details are available yet. Wellington, Last Night. The secretary of the Ocneral Post Ollice this afternoon received, the following message from the Chief Postmaster at Auckland::-The 12.-111 p.m. express for Wellington is cancelled, and Hie S.'iD p.m. express for Wellington to-night is not likely to get further than Frank ton Junction.. The Wellington express,, due at. Auckland' at 2.55 p.m. yesterday, is still at Porootaroa: tlie passengers nra at Puketutu. The express due at Auckland' at (i.4.'t a.m. to-ttay, and the express due at Auckland! at 2.55 p.m. to-day, anj still at Taiunarunui. Further slips between. Te Kuiti and Puiketutu are reported. The line between Te Kuiti and Otorohanga Is under water .in. pltac*. Yesteriliiy's express from Auckland is still at Tc Kuiti, and there is no present prospect of getting mails through 'jy road'. The water is reported l to be- sdiglttly abating.

Late this afternoon the Chief Post Olfice, Wellington, received the following telegram from the postmaster at Tailmaruniii:—The engine of tlie- express which left here at 2.30 p.m. is reported to have fallen through a bridge over a stream at Taringanintu, two miles from here. Tt is said to be in the river. Sorno carriages are off the line. The mait van was immediately behind the engin"." A later message received from, the Taumarumii postmaster at the local ofiiee states:—''No one was injured at, Taumarumii. The mail van is lying on its side between two streams. The position at present is most difficult for extricating the train, for both engines capsized."

DETAILS OF THE ACCIDENT. MIRACULOUS ESCAI'J'S. Taumaruni, Last Night. Passengers through by the Wellington to Auckland express, after a wait of several hours on account of slips on the line, left at 2.H0 p.m. to-day, In one train containing two engines in front, a postal van, one sleeper, eight carriages, and two luggage vans. When two miles north from here the embankment gave way under the second engine, the two engines and the postal van turned clean over, a drop of nine feet, partly into the Ongarue river. The driver in the leading engine applied the brakes in good time. The whole pumice bank gave way forUi distance of fifty yards on the near approach to the bridge, over a culvert.

Driver. Peter Doyle and the fireman, George King, jumped clear from the first engine, and were nninjuired. Fireman A. Payne jumped clear from the second engine, and escaped with a slight-injury to his hand. Driver W. M. Nicholson 1 and District Engineer Jeffries rolled ov-r in the cab of the second engine, and escaped without a scratch. Two Auckland postal officials rolled over in the postal van and got off without injury. sleeping car was derailed, and went part* ly down the bank. It was empty. No passengers were injured, though tiny had a very narrow escape.

Driver Doyle, Fireman King, and Guard" W. Duncan were in charge of ih:> express in the Raurimu accident last Saturday. After n further delay of several hours the passengers were transferred to a train beyond the gap for Auckland, an.l the down express passengers transferred on this side.

PARTICULARS FROM AI'OKLAXD. Auckland, Last Night. The train included the 1.30 and 0.10 p.m. trains from Wellington yesterday. Particulars are meagre, but it appears that the express, which left about 2.20 p.m., conveyed several .hundred 'passengers, and was an unusually lengthy train consisting really of the passengers of three previous expresses from Wellington, all of whom had been held up by the slips. The train smashed into a culvert just ah-ngside -the C'ligarue River bridge. The culvert is a few yards in from of the. bridge, and the flood waters had so weakened the supports that it gave way under the weight of the engine. This meant that the first engine practically left the rails and crashed on to the bridge, carrying that structure away with it as it dived Into the river. The second engine was also derailed, but, fortunately, capsized before reaching the edge uf the river bank, and so, probably, saved the whole train from piling over the broken bridge into the stream. The mail van, attached to the second engine, also left the rails and capsized. This also acted as something of a bnfi'er*for the rest of the train, which wa's brought to a xt'ry sudden standstill. AH the passengers, particularly those in the front .carriages, rewived a frightful shaking, but fortunately no one was badly hurt. How the engine-drivers and firemen on the overturned engines escaped it is not known, and it is difficult to understand, for the train, though travelling at a greatly re- j duced speed, nevertheless had considerable way on. So far as can at present be ascertained, however, tho»e on both engines were unhurt. The postal van which was overturned has 'been in three railway smashes. It. lias gone through the Whangamarino and Raurimu collisions, as 'well as the present mishap. It will, of course, be some days before even the temporary repairs can be effected to the bridge, which means continued interruption of the :Main Trunk traffic. Lieutenant S. A. Carr, who is a passenger by the train, telegraphed at 4.30 p.m.: ''Train derailed; quite safe; marvellous escape. If any bad rumors, tell papers all troops safe." The troops referred ito are soldiers on leave, belonging to the Bth Reinforcements. .